A blog for all seasons; A blog for one; A blog for all. As the 11th most informative blog on the planet, I have a seared memory of throwing my Time 2006 Man of the Year Award over the railing at Time Warner Center.
Justice. Only Justice Shall Thou Pursue

What we do know is that the Afghan military is still incapable of the heavy lifting necessary to deal with the ongoing Taliban threat. That's a huge problem and a major impediment to drawing down US or NATO forces in Afghanistan. Moreover, there are issues with the Dutch commitment to NATO's Afghan operation. The Dutch government collapsed yesterday over disagreement over continuing that commitment. Considering that the NATO obligation to help member nations is central to the premise of NATO, this is a huge blow to the organization and to the Dutch government.

Even as the allied offensive in the Taliban stronghold of Marja continued Saturday, it appeared almost certain that most of the 2,000 Dutch troops would be gone from Afghanistan by the end of the year. The question plaguing military planners was whether a Dutch departure would embolden the war’s critics in other allied countries, where debate over deployment is continuing, and hasten the withdrawal of their troops as well.

“If the Dutch go, which is the implication of all this, that could open the floodgates for other Europeans to say, ‘The Dutch are going, we can go, too,’ ” said Julian Lindley-French, professor of defense strategy at the Netherlands Defense Academy in Breda. “The implications are that the U.S. and the British are going to take on more of the load.”

The fact is that the US and British have been carrying the heaviest load in Afghanistan all along both in terms of troop commitments and combat operations. Some NATO countries have attempted to limit their offensive military operations in an attempt to limit casualties (to mixed effect as the Taliban attack targets of opportunity). This is yet another test of the Obama Administration to maintain the NATO coalition efforts in Afghanistan and is a test of resolve for NATO planners and military strategists on both sides of the Atlantic.